Wednesday, August 28, 2013

SAR #13240



Sometimes the best we can do simply isn't very good.

Playbill: Amid the allegations being traded in Syria about chemical weapons, in Istanbul the Syrian National Coalition elected Ghassan Hitto 'prime minister' of an interim government to control the rebel-held areas of Syria. Hitto is a Syrian-born US citizen and if this starts to sound familiar, it should. His 'election' is seen by many as the price the US demanded the rebels pay to receive Western arms and aid.

In The Kitchen: Now that the crisis caused by the housing bubble is over (sic) we are faced with the enormous bubble in central banking that grew to contain it. Our economies no longer have isolated bubbles, they have become a chain of bubbles upon bubbles with no apparent end. The cure has become as dangerous as the disease.

Forecast: Soothsayers now say that the Republican's Big Budget Battle will not be fought in October (over the continuing resolution to continue the unresolved budget problems) but in November (by denying the Treasury the ability to issue any more bonds). All to 'make a stand' against the Affordable Care Act. While the governmental lurching to a halt that failing to pass at least a continuing resolution (no way an actual budget is ever going to be passed again) would be bad, the damage failing to raise the debt limit would do would be economically disastrous - immediately and with world-wide and lasting damage. That it would also be disastrous to the political future of the Republican Party does not seem to bother them at all. Wouldn't bother me, either.

Slip Sliding: The June Case-Shiller house price index showed a modest 0.89% increase m/m. This was the third consecutive decline in the growth rate of house prices, and the smallest increase in nearly a year. Bob Shiller views the current housing market with skepticism, "none of this is real, the housing market has gotten very speculative.' And then he added the kiss of death, describing the current housing market as "driven by irrational exuberance." Is there an echo in here?

Fine, Just Fine: The US is demanding a minimum of $6 billion from JPMorgan for losses due to the 'London Whale' scam in “mis-selling” MBS. JPMorgan is, of course resisting – if only because it would set a bad precedent and encourage others to join the feast.

Medical Costs: Women's healthcare is more expensive than men's because women have breasts. See, you can learn a lot by watching FOX. 
 
Overtly Covert: Police at Wisconsin's Capitol building tackled and beat a photographer recording a progressive group singing about love and democracy. They also tackled and hauled off two men who were were just standing there watching while black. The whole thing was captured on the capitol's covert surveillance cameras. What do these cops tell their kids when they get home?

Rose Is Rose: The state programs set up to implement the Affordable Care Act all have their own names, and none is called 'Obamacare'. It won't be long before Obamacare's happy customers are calling Washington and demanding not to be forced to join Obamacare because they have such a good state program. 
 
The Parting Shot:
 Lobelia sp?

2 comments:

mistah charley, ph.d. said...

it's not just breasts that make women expensive, it's the whole reproductive apparatus -the biological burden of making new human beings is apparently unevenly distributed

Anonymous said...


Follow up to Israel as proxy state, dual citizenships.

Since you express an interest in this let me follow up a bit.

1. How many key US officials have dual Israel/US citizenship.

What I mean here is in the governments, federal, state, county and municipal (for instance, Rahm Emanuel of Chicago). Then there would be major businesses, universities and other institutions. Here is a dated list:
http://www.viewzone.com/dualcitizen.html
Chertoff was head of Homeland Security and had charge of letting many contracts for same. This bears on 2.

2. How much money/aid Israel receives from the US compared to States that are actually part of the US.

This should not only include outright grants and aid but also how much War and Security Racket Loot is going to Israeli corporations or government. How much money is going to Israel in other contracts?

Since all this loot and tribute is at the expense of States which are actually members of the United States and pay taxes to it, there should be a certain amount of political leverage if someone were to report on this subject.